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Talk:You Are Not Alone/@comment-24990552-20140509014541
I promised myself I would write an essay about my OTP (and when I say OTP, I truly do mean ONE-TRUE-PAIRING), Ian and Mickey from Shameless. Now that I am fully caught up on the series, here goes nothing. (I wouldn't read this if you don't wish to be spoiled on the show.) ---- ian and mickey // shameless I guess the best way to start this off is by saying that Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich have one of the greatest stories ever written on television. It's a heavy title to hold, but they deserve it, they really do. From the start, Ian Gallagher was supposed to be writen as a “unique” gay character on television -- he is, literally, the anti-Kurt Hummel. Tall, strong, soon-to-be army recruit. Ian is a bit more rough and tumble than your usual gay stereotype, but he is sensitive and has feelings like anybody else, regardless of sexuality. However, there’s nothing sensitive about the infamous Mickey Milkovich; horrifyingly violent thug who would have never even think of kissing Ian Gallagher at the beginning of the series. What's perhaps one of the most interesting factors of Ian Gallagher is that he has never really been shown as being ashamed of his sexuality in the early goings of the show. The truth is that while it did take Ian some time -- until the end of the first season, to be precise -- to come out, when he does so it’s done so rather effortlessly. Mickey Milkovich, however, is obviously shown to bare several conflicted feelings towards his own sexual orientation. The thing with Mickey is that his hyper-masculine personality isn’t just some cloak that Mickey has covered himself in to mask his sexual orientation; it's who he really, truly is. Mickey has spent his entire life in South Side, Chicago. That's a place where you have to be hard, you have to be tough if you really want to survive. The Milkovich family is one of the most dysfunctional fictional families I have ever come across, no doubt about it. In fact, I am rather positive that they are what the Gallaghers would be without the steady, gentle hand of Fiona to guide them and keep them nurtured, safe. Mickey had to learn early on how to be tough due to his evil soul of a father, a man who is either in prison or barely even home, one who most certainly falls into all the categories of human abuse; physical, verbal, even sexual. But as soon as these two characters collide with each other, a spark goes off. And that spark is practically a nuclear bomb of chemistry, exploding in your face. They drew me in from the moment they first realized their attraction to each other and had sex for the first time. And from that moment on, I was in love with them. And the more I watched, the more I became obsessed with their relationship, basically. What had originally been just 'bang buddies' in their first few encounters eventually blossomed into a full-blown relationship. Ian and Mickey developed feelings, real feelings, for each other. They were slowly but surely falling in love with each conversation they had, with each (though uncommon) kiss they shared. The burn of Ian and Mickey’s relationship is one of the other elements that makes this story so worth watching. Ian and Mickey are now two fully realized characters slowly falling in love with each other and their relationship continues to progress from something purely physical into something a lot deeper. Now, I'm in love with this couple and I believe that they are meant for each other; however, their relationship is far from perfect. There are plenty of roadblocks along the already rocky road of their relationship. Their roadblocks have a tendency to be Ian trying to confront Mickey about what he’s long known to be true in an attempt to get a real reaction from him and Mickey responding by beating the shit out of him. These scenes are never easy to watch, but there’s something to be said for the couple’s ability to work past them and to overcome their issues in the long run. These moments are all embedded into the show’s strong characterization. There never seems to be any question that Mickey’s beating Ian has nothing at all to do with wanting to hurt Ian, or even to prove some level of dominance over him, but has everything to do with his relentless, yet failing attempts to beat these romantic feelings for a boy out of himself. Season 3 ends on a very, very negative note for both Ian and Mickey. But then in Season 4; that's when bliss arrives. Now, Ian and Mickey are scarred boys who, in the two times they had kissed before, only seem to kiss through broken faces. But then, in the last few episodes of Season 4, Mickey starts to thaw. After a long time of being apart due to Ian's departure from his family, Mickey finally finds Ian after months of seperation. And after just an episode of being reunited, they kiss passionately. They have kissed before, but this is the only kiss they've shared in public (at a gay mixer, to be exact). The freedom and relief that Mickey so obviously feels in kissing Ian in public without reprisal is eye-opening and emboldening. Mickey comes out in the eleventh episode of Season 4. What was, in the beginning a depressing and disturbing scene of Mickey's own father beating the life out of his son was, ultimately, uplifting. The boys again kiss through broken faces; but also with grins. To praise the bloody, fraught relationship of Mickey and Ian is not to diminish other, less dramatic depictions. There are a million ways to be gay in America and none of them are wrong. Mickey and Ian are allowed to be beautiful, beautiful disasters, because it's who they are. Being gay can be hard everywhere, especially whilst living and surviving on the wrong sides of the Chicago tracks. Every punch Mickey threw at Ian was absolutely a blow aimed inward. That’s not to excuse the abuse (and make no mistake, Ian can give as good as he gets). But somehow, against all odds, Mickey and Ian come out the other side completely clean; heartache and all. If that's not love, then I'm not sure what is. otp: what you and i have makes me free.